Psystar's hopes of stalling Apple's lawsuit have crumbled as the Mac maker has successfully overturned the court stay on its case. At the same time, Apple's legal hammer has been falling on iTunes gift card fraud, and the Palm Pre continues to sell out even with the iPhone 3GS threatening to pull customers away.

Stay lifted in Apple lawsuit against Psystar

Apple's motion to lift the stay in its copyright infringement lawsuit against Psystar has succeeded in a Southern District of Florida bankruptcy court.

Granted on Friday of last week, the relief overturns the automatic freeze on any court proceedings that followed when Psystar filed for Chapter 11 last month and will force Psystar to defend itself even as it tries to reorganize its business. While Psystar has maintained that Apple is trying to drive it out of the market before it can defend itself, Apple has accused the Florida clone builder of using bankruptcy to avoid facing its legal reckoning. It has also positioned the lawsuit as 'helping' Psystar by giving it a way to emerge from bankruptcy without promptly having to resume a legal defense it might lose.

Even with the short-term win, however, Apple won't have a complete victory in the lawsuit. The bankruptcy court reminded the California firm that it has to ask permission from the court before it can collect any damages from Psystar as long as the company is still insolvent.

Apple taking action against users of fraudulent iTunes cards

Those that gave into buying illegitimately made iTunes cards, whether aware of their authenticity or not, are finding out the hard way through a new Apple crackdown on the practice.

Various reports aggregated by PC World have pointed to Apple permanently disabling the accounts of those it catches using the cards, which often cost well below the value of the number of songs they buy. The ban not only prevents shoppers from buying new songs but disables access to any songs they've bought that are still using FairPlay copy protection from before the switch to DRM-free music on iTunes.

Apple says its terms of service for the iTunes Store explicitly warn against fake iTunes gift cards or other rewards and warns those users in advance so that any unwitting or experimental use doesn't lock customers out of their collections. Customers who've had their accounts shut down were those that should have known better, company spokesman Jason Roth implies.

To avoid this level of fraud, shoppers are asked to not only watch out for too-good-to-be-true discounts on cards but to only buy cards from within their own countries but, if they can, to insist on receiving a physical copy of the card in question.

Palm Pre still selling out despite iPhone

While doubts have existed that Palm would continue enjoying brisk sales of its multi-touch Pre smartphone after the unveiling of this year's iPhones -- which occurred just two days after the Pre's launch in the US -- Sprint's chief finance officer Bob Brust has revealed that sales are still strong and that there are continued shortages even as Palm gets a better grip on its supplies.

"We still have a backlog of subscribers but it's not unmanageable and we get shipments every week," Brust said during an investor's conference, adding that Sprint was "catching up."

Analysts had originally predicted that about 50,000 Palm Pres were sold on its launch weekend early this month, or just one twentieth Apple's 1 million iPhone 3GS units sold two weeks later. Further estimates, however, had Sprint doubling its total sales count in less than a week.

The performance is such that the carrier's CFO says he hasn't seen "any big change" since the 3GS was released and believes that the Pre is both drawing in converts from rivals as well as preventing existing customers from jumping ship. Sprint sorely needs a halo device like the Pre as it has continued to lose millions of customers due to a combination of its poor reputation for customer service and a lackluster collection of handsets.

Even with the short-term win, however, Apple won't have a complete victory in the lawsuit. The bankruptcy court reminded the California firm that it has to ask permission from the court before it can collect any damages from Psystar as long as the company is still insolvent.

Psystar is, by all accounts, broke, so Apple's motive in getting the stay lifted is not about a desire to get monetary damages. A win in this case will establish a precedent which will be more valuable (as a potential deterrent to others ) then any damage award at this point.

I'm more concerned about the two other companies operating outside of the States, esp. the one in Russia.

About Pre sales:

Considering the size of the sales, which is to say, fairly small, who is to say that initial sales weren't depressed by the news of the new iPhones arriving a week later?

If so, then sales are what they are because of that.

First we saw estimates of weekend sales of between 50,000 and 100,000, then we saw estimates of full week sales of between 90,000 and 100,000. That doesn't seem as though sales were where they had hoped they would be, but rather were at the bottom of the estimates.

Even though iPhone sales were in 8 countries, at least half of the sales were likely within the US, going by past results. If so, then Apple had 10 times the sales in the US than Palm that first weekend. That doesn't sound so impressive for Palm, and I don't know why it's being written up in various places as though it is. Even if you account for the greater size of AT&Ts' base, Apple has over seven times the sales per million customers.

Psystar is, by all accounts, broke, so Apple's motive in getting the stay lifted is not about a desire to get monetary damages. A win in this case will establish a precedent which will be more valuable (as a potential deterrent to others ) then any damage award at this point.

Good for the Florida bankruptcy courts and good for Palm. I hope Palm can sell a 1M Pres this summer as I think that is the magic number for some odd reason. It doesnt fit my needs but it really is the best US competitor the iPhone has seen to date.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neruda

Psystar is, by all accounts, broke, so Apple's motive in getting the stay lifted is not about a desire to get monetary damages. A win in this case will establish a precedent which will be more valuable (as a potential deterrent to others ) then any damage award at this point.

I agree with that. I dont think Apple is particularly hurt by Psystars moves but the precedence is what is important.

The eBay sellers arent so much of an issue as they arent really setting themselves up to be hit by Apple the same way. Just as the OSx86 Project has yet to get any wrath from Apple as far I can see. Hobby is hobby and I do know a couple people that did it for fun with an old PC, but ended up buying a Mac after playing it for awhile.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

While doubts have existed that Palm would continue enjoying brisk sales of its multi-touch Pre smartphone after the unveiling of this year's iPhones -- which occurred just two days after the Pre's launch in the US -- Sprint's chief finance officer Bob Brust has revealed that sales are still strong and that there are continued shortages even as Palm gets a better grip on its supplies.

"We still have a backlog of subscribers but it's not unmanageable and we get shipments every week," Brust said during an investor's conference, adding that Sprint was "catching up.".

Doesn't surprise me.

I think the vast majority of Pre buyers are folks that are stuck with Sprint, for either business/contractual or geographic/network coverage reasons.

Those folks were waiting for a decent smartphone on Sprint, and now they presumably have one. They weren't choosing between an iPhone and a Pre.

First we saw estimates of weekend sales of between 50,000 and 100,000, then we saw estimates of full week sales of between 90,000 and 100,000. That doesn't seem as though sales were where they had hoped they would be, but rather were at the bottom of the estimates.

Even though iPhone sales were in 8 countries, at least half of the sales were likely within the US, going by past results. If so, then Apple had 10 times the sales in the US than Palm that first weekend. That doesn't sound so impressive for Palm, and I don't know why it's being written up in various places as though it is. Even if you account for the greater size of AT&Ts' base, Apple has over seven times the sales per million customers.

For such a "hot" phone, the sales don't seem all that great.

While we all know they had shortages, so did Apple.

In the end, it’s all about the net profit, which Palm sorely needs, though the 13x stock bump since the Pre announcement at CES does help (though only if the company can maintain those investors).

Since Sprint has slightly more than 50% of the AT&T’s subscribers, we can probably drop that 500K number if half again making the difference only 5x. Now before you say anything, I am fully aware of the number of people that are moving to AT&T for the iPhone, and I while I think this particular metric is certainly not the strongest, I don’t think it hurts to at least conceive of the numbers in such terms. I do think the Pre is good enough to help keep some people at Sprint, which is a benefit for Sprint (of course) and a testament to the relative success of the Pre. I don’t think we could say that for the Storm, Instinct or really even the G1. On top of that, selling a 50k smartphones may pale in comparison to even the original iPhone for a weekend selling that many, expensive smartphones in general is still a really impressive, IMO.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

In the end, it’s all about the net profit, which Palm sorely needs, though the 13x stock bump since the Pre announcement at CES does help (though only if the company can maintain those investors).

Since Sprint has slightly more than 50% of the AT&T’s subscribers, we can probably known that 500K number if half again making the difference only 5x. Now before you say anything, I am fully aware of the number of people that are moving to AT&T for the iPhone, and I while I think this particular metric is certainly not the strongest, I don’t think it hurts to at least conceive of the numbers in such terms. I do think the Pre is good enough to help keep some people at Sprint, which is a benefit for Sprint (of course) and a testament to the relative success of the Pre. I don’t think we could say that for the Storm, Instinct or really even the G1.

Isn't it closer to two thirds? 49 million to what, 77 million?

I'm wondering if there will be bad publicity from the cracks, bubbles, and other problems that are cropping up, and the way that at least some of these people are being handled.

I think it’s really right around 50%. According to March 2009 subscriber numbers AT&T had 86.6M to Sprint’s 49.1M (source). If we assume the typical exodus from Sprint has been in effect for the mast 3 months and the AT&T infusion as well as the new subs bought from Verizon in the Alltel deal the number for the next quarter may actually make Sprint less than 50% of AT&T, though I think ~50% is accurate enough for any speculation. At any rate, when dealing with an underdog I tend to think it’s okay to add favour to their end when unsure of exact figures.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I think its really right around 50%. According to March 2009 subscriber numbers AT&T had 86.6M to Sprints 49.1M (source). If we assume the typical exodus from Sprint has been in effect for the mast 3 months and the AT&T infusion as well as the new subs bought from Verizon in the Alltel deal the number for the next quarter may actually make Sprint less than 50% of AT&T, though I think ~50% is accurate enough for any speculation. At any rate, when dealing with an underdog I tend to think its okay to add favour to their end when unsure of exact figures.

Couldn't open the page. Could you try it again? Is that to Sprints numbers, or that of AT&T? I don't remember AT&T having numbers that high.

I am choosing the Pre over the iPhone for mainly one reason... a real keyboard. I use my phone for email and text messaging a lot and the virtual keyboard is just too slow and unreliable (yes I have tried it... it pails in comparison to physical keys).

The iPhone is obviously a great device that works for a lot of people... I'm not one of them. Why Apple seems to have the same disdain for a physical keyboard as they did for the 2-button mouse, I have no idea. But if they had a version with a physical keyboard, or if they would at least allow drivers for third-party bluetooth keyboards, I probably would have bought one a long time ago.

Anyway, the point is that the iPhone's sales have been at least five times, maybe ten times that of the Pre here in the States, and that's the real point.

I really was expecting better sales for the Pre, and worse ones for the iPhone.

Can't always get what we expect.

The shortage thing for the Pre is strange though. Thats not a heck of a lot of phones for a manufacturer to make. Why would they have had shortages? Assuming, of course, that it wasn't deliberate. One reason I read from someone in the industry was that possibly Palm didn't have the bucks for a larger initial run. But it seems to me that Sprint could have helped out there.

I am choosing the Pre over the iPhone for mainly one reason... a real keyboard. I use my phone for email and text messaging a lot and the virtual keyboard is just too slow and unreliable (yes I have tried it... it pails in comparison to physical keys).

one of yesterday's threads concerned itself with the iphone keyboard, i think the general consensus is that after a little practice the virtual keyboard is just a good as a physical keyboard. i for one send a lot of mails every day from my iphone, typing just as fast as i did on a physical kb, maybe even faster since my thumbs fly over the keys, no need to press anything ince you mastered the amount of "touch" required to activate a key

indeed almost as fast as on a full size laptop keyboard
the only slowdown takes place when i want to copy, cut or paste. that is of course faster on a full size keyboard.

re copy paste: i am so very happy that we have this now, this was such a major pain before, writing address on bits of paper, then typing them into google maps etc. i am truly delighted with the copy paste function on the iphone
-D

The performance is such that the carrier's CFO says he hasn't seen "any big change" since the 3GS was released and believes that the Pre is both drawing in converts from rivals as well as preventing existing customers from jumping ship. Sprint sorely needs a halo device like the Pre as it has continued to lose millions of customers due to a combination of its poor reputation for customer service and a lackluster collection of handsets.

is palm saying anything?
or did they learn from the debacle when they issued a press release to distance themselves from the drivel spewed by one of their big investors:

You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.

Anyway, the point is that the iPhone's sales have been at least five times, maybe ten times that of the Pre here in the States, and that's the real point.

I really was expecting better sales for the Pre, and worse ones for the iPhone.

Can't always get what we expect.

The shortage thing for the Pre is strange though. Thats not a heck of a lot of phones for a manufacturer to make. Why would they have had shortages? Assuming, of course, that it wasn't deliberate. One reason I read from someone in the industry was that possibly Palm didn't have the bucks for a larger initial run. But it seems to me that Sprint could have helped out there.

Now that manufacturers, as well as Palm and Sprint, have seen some sales, they probably will
have the confidence to proceed with larger orders.

I love my Palm Pre; it's finally what I've been looking for in a phone without having to sell my soul to AT&T.

Yep, AT&T is the main reason I don't have an iPhone. I love the device; it's a great phone! But the crappy data network and expensive service means I've stayed away.

I hope the iPhone eventually comes to other carriers and the Pre as well. This whole concept of a phone being completely locked down to one carrier is hurting the industry and making things frustrating for those of us who like a specific phone but hate the carrier it's on.

I'm also glad the iPhone finally has real competition in the Pre, and to a lesser extent, Android.

The big question is whether the Pre can sustain its sales figures. If I'm reading this right, they're saying it sold about 50,000 the first weekend then another 50,000 through the rest of the week. So it looks like there are a lot of early adopters. A lot depends on who's left after all these people have bought their Pres. Will sales flatten out, decline slowly or go into a steep nosedive?

Me, I'm waiting for the Verizon LTE iPhone. With tethering. No way in Hell I'll ever deal with AT&T again.

Mr. Coster estimates that Palm has shipped close to 180,000 devices in the two weeks since the product first went on sale and could reach as many as 2.5 million in the fiscal year ending in May 2010. But that would not be enough to make the company profitable, he said.

The article discusses several other aspects of Palm's challenge including building out their App Catalog.

one of yesterday's threads concerned itself with the iphone keyboard, i think the general consensus is that after a little practice the virtual keyboard is just a good as a physical keyboard. i for one send a lot of mails every day from my iphone, typing just as fast as i did on a physical kb, maybe even faster since my thumbs fly over the keys, no need to press anything ince you mastered the amount of "touch" required to activate a key

indeed almost as fast as on a full size laptop keyboard
the only slowdown takes place when i want to copy, cut or paste. that is of course faster on a full size keyboard.

-D

I think that applies to *only* those with tiny fingers. I cannot type on my iPhone like I did with my LG. I have to hunt and peck because I cannot use my thumbs. I'm a touch typist, too, so it isn't due to lack of skill in typing. My thumbs are just too big to really be quick on an iPhone. I end up sending nonsense to people. And yes, I'm practiced. I've had my iPhone for over a year now.

So, no, the virtual keyboard isn't as good as a real one in any way to me. It's the only thing I dislike about my phone. If Apple could find a way to integrate a usable physical keyboard, I'd be grateful.

Psystar is, by all accounts, broke, so Apple's motive in getting the stay lifted is not about a desire to get monetary damages. A win in this case will establish a precedent which will be more valuable (as a potential deterrent to others ) then any damage award at this point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacTripper

Smack one mole, another pops up elsewhere.

this is why the case needs to go through. Apple is in the right (according to the courts) on the tying issue, so copyright, DCMA etc is all that is left. they win this case and even if they don't get a dime from Psystar they can shut the company down on Hackintoshs and pave the way to go after anyone else that tries it with a solid offense. No one can claim they didn't know they couldn't do it thanks to all the press.

Considering the size of the sales, which is to say, fairly small, who is to say that initial sales weren't depressed by the news of the new iPhones arriving a week later?.

actually I think stock shortages are the answer.

the fact is that there are areas of the country where ATT coverage blows but Sprint is kicking butt. so Sprint has all the subscribers. those folks aren't even going to consider an iPhone until they can get it on Sprint or ATT expands A LOT.

when/if we get to the point that you can get an iphone on any carrier then the real battle of the smart phones will begin.

While doubts have existed that Palm would continue enjoying brisk sales of its multi-touch Pre smartphone an investor's conference, adding that Sprint was "catching up."

Analysts had originally predicted that about 50,000 Palm Pres were sold on its launch weekend early this month, or just one twentieth Apple's 1 million iPhone 3GS units sold two weeks later. Further estimates, however, had Sprint doubling its total sales count in less than a week.

the mobile phone market proves that capitalism and competition still works. Apple's success spur others to TRY make better handsets, i.e. Storm. So America IS NOT falling in to socialism.

I'm more concerned about the two other companies operating outside of the States, esp. the one in Russia.

About Pre sales:

Considering the size of the sales, which is to say, fairly small, who is to say that initial sales weren't depressed by the news of the new iPhones arriving a week later?

If so, then sales are what they are because of that.

First we saw estimates of weekend sales of between 50,000 and 100,000, then we saw estimates of full week sales of between 90,000 and 100,000. That doesn't seem as though sales were where they had hoped they would be, but rather were at the bottom of the estimates.

Even though iPhone sales were in 8 countries, at least half of the sales were likely within the US, going by past results. If so, then Apple had 10 times the sales in the US than Palm that first weekend. That doesn't sound so impressive for Palm, and I don't know why it's being written up in various places as though it is. Even if you account for the greater size of AT&Ts' base, Apple has over seven times the sales per million customers.

For such a "hot" phone, the sales don't seem all that great.

While we all know they had shortages, so did Apple.

Well first of all. The number 100,000 was for the first weekend. Not only that but sprint said even after the launch of the 3gs sales have not been phased... Its the 23rd now.. If this is true we are talking 270,000 already sold give or take. Now comparing the number 100,000 to iphones 1,000,000 divided by 8 is 125,000.... So lets say USA sold the most giving it about 300,000 sales... Being on the largest network with the already most popular phone in the world... Compared to the pre on a much smaller carrier with a brand new phone not many have heard of... I would say the pre sales are pretty damn good in comparison.

Now that manufacturers, as well as Palm and Sprint, have seen some sales, they probably will
have the confidence to proceed with larger orders.

But it still seems so odd that in their big opening, they would be cautious.

After all, if they didn't sell 200,000 phones in the first weekend, or even the first week, and they didn't, they would still sell these phone over the next couple of weeks to a month. And by having them, they wouldn't have had shortages, and their numbers would have been somewhat better. That is, if they really did have shortages, which I'm beginning to doubt, as they seemed to have enough for the entire week after claiming shortages for the weekend. It's not likely they suddenly got them in and distributed in one day.

I suspect they had a good number in their warehouses around the country.

Well first of all. The number 100,000 was for the first weekend. Not only that but sprint said even after the launch of the 3gs sales have not been phased... Its the 23rd now.. If this is true we are talking 270,000 already sold give or take. Now comparing the number 100,000 to iphones 1,000,000 divided by 8 is 125,000.... So lets say USA sold the most giving it about 300,000 sales... Being on the largest network with the already most popular phone in the world... Compared to the pre on a much smaller carrier with a brand new phone not many have heard of... I would say the pre sales are pretty damn good in comparison.

No, its not. The new estimates are that they sold 50,000 for the weekend, and 90,000 to 100,000 for the entire week, including the weekend.

I doubt very much that they've sold more than 150,000 together by now, maybe less.

Your numbers for the iPhone are screwy as well. At least half of the iPhones sales are in the US right now with those 8 countries, maybe more. Did you look to see which countries they were, and the population sizes? You should.

But it still seems so odd that in their big opening, they would be cautious.

After all, if they didn't sell 200,000 phones in the first weekend, or even the first week, and they didn't, they would still sell these phone over the next couple of weeks to a month. And by having them, they wouldn't have had shortages, and their numbers would have been somewhat better. That is, if they really did have shortages, which I'm beginning to doubt, as they seemed to have enough for the entire week after claiming shortages for the weekend. It's not likely they suddenly got them in and distributed in one day.

I suspect they had a good number in their warehouses around the country.

Well, we'll see how things go when they release it in Europe, maybe they'll use the same launch strategy, maybe not. Should shed some light on the situation.